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Island Halkomelem (Hul'q'umin'um')

     Island Halkomelem is spoken on Vancouver Island and on some of the adjacent islands. There are many lexical differences between the Island and mainland dialects. (Link to Halkomelem dialect). Island Halkomelem is also different phonologically from other dialects of Halkomelem; for example, it has shifted the the velar fricative /x/ to a palatal fricative /sh/.
     Most words are the same for all Island Hul'q'umin'um' speakers. Sometimes, though, the Nanaimo sub-dialect may differ in a vocabulary item or in the pronunciation of a word. We have indicated words of this type by giving the dialect name.
     Where there is a difference, the Nanoose Elders, due to a shared history with Chemainus, usually have the same word as Chemainus. It should be emphasized, though, that most speakers know both words, since the Elders from all the Island Hul'q'umin'um' First Nations are in constant contact and have been interrelated for centuries.
     Sometimes different Elders pronounce the same word in different ways, but the difference could not clearly be ascribed to dialect differences. In this case, the two words are both given, separated with ~ , the variation sign. If more than one word was known for an item, multiple entries were given.
     The Island data in this project come from the research of Donna Gerdts and Brian Compton. The audio files come from the Talking Hul'q'umin'um' Dictionary, a CD-ROM programmed by Colleen Penrowley. For that project, Colleen recorded the voices of Hul'q'umin'um' elders Hazel Good, Margaret James, Bill Seward, and Theresa Thorne. Also, film clips of Chemainus speakers appear in this project.